A number of operations, from beautician's services to industrial polishing, require storage of consumables which are used in such operations. Such consumables are generally similar in overall character, but differ in one or more characteristics. Oftentimes, the operation at hand requires such consumables be used in some order, perhaps even serially, to achieve the best result. A highly polished surface within a reasonable period of time, for instance, requires use of rough grinding compounds, and then finer and finer compounds. Other times, such consumables need not be used in order, but they must be readily identifiable for easy selection, and readily accessible for easy use. When a beauty technician and her client jointly choose a hair color for application, for instance, the consumable must be visible to both, and reachable by the technician. Still other times, such consumables, as finished products, need only be displayed in a highly visible manner to a prospective purchaser, in pleasing and orderly fashion. Then a prospective purchaser wishes to buy cosmetics, or example, the available cosmetics must be attractively arrayed, accessible for sampling or selection, and easily put back in order when such prospective purchaser has finished sampling, or the product selected by the consumer must be replaced and restocked. Regardless of the use to which such consumables are put, all consumable which might benefit from the storage, display, and access benefits accruing from the present invention are generally referred to herein as “Consumables.”
Frequently Consumables are of small sizes, and a large number of products must be stacked upon one another. Oftentimes, Consumables are not of shapes suitable to allow stacking. In such instances, Consumables may be placed in containers, such as rectangular boxes, to allow stacking of Consumables. Stacking, of course, has significant disadvantages, including instability in the stack and consequent disarray, insufficient view of package names or colors for convenient selection and replacement, and similar disadvantages. And oftentimes the outer containers for such consumables serve no useful purpose other than to provide an imperfect means to stack Consumables, and such containers are therefore soon discarded. On the other hand, Consumables are often found in tubes or other containers which are roughly uniform in shape and size, and that uniformity in tube shape and size is often reflected in the shape and size of caps or tops used to close the tubes. While holders of various kinds exist in prior for various containers, no apparatus appears to usefully grouped and conveniently hold tubes of consumables, by accommodating usual variations in shape and size of tubes and containers, and usual variations in shape and size of the caps and tops employed to close such tubes and containers. Without such apparatus, a user who uses a variety of Consumables is left to stack tubes and containers in the rectangular boxes in which they come, or hold the tubes in other sub-optimal ways, with all the disadvantages attendant thereto.
A number of devices have been developed to accomplish one or more of the purposes to which the present invention is directed, and some of these devices have one or more features of the present invention. In attempting to achieve useful storage, display, selection and access characteristics for consumables, others have created various storage and display apparatus. Such apparatus within the related art includes:
U.S. Pat. No. 311,613 to Shelden, which discloses a holder in the form of a disk, having an ordered arrangement of pockets for holding pencils.
U.S. Pat. No. 663,838 to White, which discloses a display stand having horizontal perforated rotatable disks for display of oil cloths.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,529 to Salladay, which discloses a multi-shelf “lazy susan” having circular shelves, and means for rotation thereunder.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,052 to Knaus, which discloses a tool holder having a pair of vertically spaced coaxial horizontal disks with holes formed therein for holding the shanks of drilling tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,400 to Dubinsky which discloses a rotating merchandising stand for display of merchandise contained in tubular containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,261 to Baughman et al., which discloses a holder designed to hold fishing rods, poles or pool cures for storage when transporting or when not in use.
In addition, various non-patented products are expressly directed to display of various products, including the display of cosmetics. Among such products are “revolving tiered lipstick displays” and “rotating tiered pen displays,” such as those manufactured by Potomac Display and Manufacturing.
The inventions disclosed in these patents and appearing in these products appear to fulfill their respective objectives. However, these prior patents and products do not describe or suggest an apparatus which allows a user to handle Consumables in the useful ways made possible by the present invention. This is in part due to the ordered arrangement of holes in the disks of the present invention, in which the holes are arrayed in rows on each disk, each row having the same number of holes. Organizing the holes in the disks of the present invention in rows provides an ability to use Consumables in some order, even serially ordered, to achieve the best result where the operation at hand requires such ordered use. Forming the some of the holes in some disks of the present invention in appropriate sizes, in order to accommodate tubes or other containers which are roughly uniform in shape and size, provides an ability to put order in tubes' which are sized and shaped differently, as the holes are formed to accept tube diameter sizes and shapes over a range usually encountered for such tubes. Forming other holes in other disks of the present invention in other appropriate (smaller) sizes, in order to accommodate tube tops and other closures which are generally uniform in shape and size, provides an ability to securely hold such tubes in a confined but accessible, top pointed down position, again assuming the holes are formed to accept tube top diameter sizes and shapes over a range usually encountered for such tops. Top down positioning in the present invention provides the unique advantage of using gravity to move Consumables inside tubes to the opening of the tube while the tube is not in use, thereby allowing a user to easily express Consumables from tubes without squeezing such tubes along their entire length.
Thus, as but one example, an operator in a polishing or sharpening operation may chose grinding compounds from rough to fine based on the position of such compounds within a single row (the coarser compound generally being available in the outmost hole in each row), or the position of such compounds in order around a disk (the coarser compound generally being found in a single row, and associated with other coarse compounds in surrounding rows, or the order of compounds being identified by row numbers around a disk). In another embodiment of the present invention, a spice rack may be formed with substantially the same components.
Other features of the present invention which allow a user to handle Consumables in the useful ways not found in prior patents or products include the multiple vertical members holding the disks in position, as such multiple vertical members provide unusual stability and weight bearing strength. At the same time such vertical members may be longer or shorter, to accommodate different lengths and heights of tubes and bottles, thereby supplying an ability to vary the distance between nearby disks.
In combination with the metal composition of one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the stability and strength of the multiple vertical members allows a user to put heavier Consumables on each disk, and also to stack disks for additional storage of a larger variety of Consumables. Thus, a beautician, for instance, can choose how many disks she may wish to “gang” in a single assembly of the present invention, and at the same time choose varying distances between nearby disks. With such flexibility in positioning and capacity, a beautician might find she can store and array all available lines of hair color, or at least a full line of a preferred type or brand of hair color, in a single stack of disks. This may even allow the holding and display of oval shapes for bottles in some versions, in some versions of the present invention, or even square or rectangularly shaped tubes or bottles, with or without tops or other closures.
Yet other features of the present invention which allow a user to handle Consumables in the useful ways not found in prior patents or products include the non-radial arrangement of rows of holes in the disks. Non-radial arrangement enhances the Consumables or product display function of the present invention over prior inventions and products, as Consumables and products are easier to see when the invention filled with Consumables is viewed from the side. Viewed from such angle, the end of each row of Consumables is not obscured by the end of an adjacent row as one such row overlaps the other such row. Opening the view at the end of each row allows a clear view of a larger portion of each tube of Consumables, and a greater opening between rows for light by which to read identifying material in such larger portions of each tube. This enhanced display effect becomes more important as disks are added to a stack of disks in the present invention (as noted above, such stacking made possible only in the present invention), as viewing any single disk from above becomes difficult under such circumstances.
Yet other features of the present invention which allow a user to handle Consumables in the useful ways not found in prior patents or products include the spacing of disks in pairs, and the diameter of holes in each member of each such pair of disks. Rows of holes in the upper member of such pairs of disks match in their placement the rows of holes in the lower member of such pairs, so that each holes in one member of a pair of disks has a corresponding hole formed directly above or below it in the other disk of such pair. At the same time, however, each hole in the upper disk of a pair of disks is chosen to allow a tube to slip easily out of and back into its position within the invention, while each hole in the lower disk of a pair of disks is chosen to allow average diameter tube tops to be inserted within such holes, but at the same time not allow average diameter tubes to slip through the same hole. Consequently, tubes of Consumables may be easily positioned in a pair of disks, with the tube top residing in a lower hole of a pair of disks, and the shoulder of the tube to which such tube top is attached bearing against the top of the lower disk, and the tube body is somewhat loosely residing within the corresponding hole in the upper disk of the pair of disks. With this arrangement, tubes may be easily placed in position in the invention, easily removed from their position when a tube is to be used.
No patent or display of which the inventor is aware provides an ordered arrangement of holes in the disks of the display, multiple vertical members holding the disks in position (which members may be varied in length for attendant flexibility in positioning and capacity), a non-radial arrangement of rows of holes in the disks (for enhanced display effect), ganging of disks in pairs, wherein each hole in one member of a pair of disks has a corresponding hole formed directly above or below it in the other disk of such pair (such holes chosen to allow a tube to slip easily out of and back into its position) within the display.